Schedule A

Where all roads lead.

Even having been there, it is hard to appreciate that it was the heart of civilization for so long. The last great ancient strong hold before the Dark Ages. A society which achieved a level of technical understanding that had to be rediscovered to be surpassed. An empire which span much further than we were going to travel.

After the ancient empire a new religious empire rose and took some of the splendor from the past. Rome is site with so much significance makes it a difficult place to navigate. I would definitely recommend staying near Termini, the main train and subway station. There are some bad places around there, but we were able to find an acceptable hostel. Wake up early. We were able to stroll into the Colosseum because we arrived around 8:30 when it opened. If you go to the forum try some kind of tour or guide. Even a podcasted walking tour would do. It is the heart of ancient Rome but with out a guide it is just an opaque collection of ruins.

From Rome

The Colosseum was amazing and guided tour was well worth it. The official that is with actual historians. Our guide had a lot of interesting information to related and an accent that commanded authority. What is left is the basic brick structure of the massive arena. All the marble which covered it was taken to build St. Peter’s Basilica over in Vatican city. Small sections of the Colosseum have some of the original marble to give you an idea of how it looked, but it is difficult to imagine just how impressive the giant white structure would have looked. There are still numbers on the entrances to the great arena. Tickets were for a door, row and seat. It was very organized.

From Rome

On the trip we made a habit of buying electronics. While staying in Rome we took a evening trip to a place call Romaest. It is a giant shopping complex outside the city to the East. To even get close we had to take a commuter train and there was still a highway to cross. We stayed at te mall late into the evening, as it was a purchase we had to think about carefully. Unfortunately it was too late and getting back to Rome turned out to be very difficult. I will say two things. The Roman track workers we met were incredibly helpful and we are eternally grateful to them. Second you don’t always have to pay for buses in Italy. Generally they don’t care, as long as you pay sometimes. So if you are traveling in the region keep that in mind.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures including our trip to the Vatican.

Rome

A brief aside from recounting stories of the summer traveling.

Discovering new music, at least music that is new to me, is something important to me. I currently have two major sources. One is CBC Radio 3 which provides me with lot of new Canadian independent music, and the other is requests I get for events I DJ which provides me with popular and some times strange new music. I am always looking for new sources so if you have any please let me know.

Additionally I wanted to share the new music I discovered with other interested people. I began by creating monthly top 10 lists about a year ago. That didn’t last long since I found it somewhat unfulfilling that my readers couldn’t easily to listen to the music I was writing about.

What I am going to try now is combining the quest for new music with practicing mixes and produce a podcast. Right now I am just testing the watersm and I am looking for feedback in general. If it is successful will be hosting this off of my DJ Phat Albert website, www.phatalbert.ca in the long term.

The current plan is to produce a monthly 20 minute mix podcast. The podcast will include images with notes including a track listing available online. The for the first show the images are CC pictures from flickr. I searched for some combination of the song name and band name to find something good. If you have images would like me to use I can try to work them in and credit you.

You can’t add it as an actual podcast yet as there is only one episode available. Download it and give it a listen. Please give feedback. Is the format write? What could I do to make it better? The current version is m4a, if you want a mp3 version let me know and I will set one up.

http://www.phatalbert.ca/podcast/shows/Episode 1: Working it out.m4a

Here is an example of the notes I would include.

Notes

An inadvertent theme for this episode is work. Be it working together, getting up and going to work going home and going to bed, or the intro from the movie Brazil which invokes the sounds of a hard working bureaucracy.

1. Brazil Sound Track - Central Services

I was in a cinema in Europe where the Wall-e trailer was playing which features a section of this addictive song which of course doesn’t actually appear in the movie (as is common with music in commercials for movies). Googling for commercials and the songs from them usually yield discussion boards where someone has the right answer. I have since seen Terry Gilliam movie, Brazil, and would definitely recommend it.

2. Cat Empire - Hello

In a rare case, I am not sure when I first heard this song. I knew the second I did I loved it. It is up beat and infectious even if it lacks depth. It is a bit sad it was featured in a commercials for a movie about dogs.

3. Gonzales - Working Together

One of many CBC Radio 3 finds. Like a few Canada artists, Gonzales left for Paris to continue his music career. I think I even heard this song on a European radio station while I was over there. It has a compelling musical feel to is which requires it not only to be catchy but also tell a story.

4. Estelle feat. Kayne West - American Boy

You have probably heard it way to often.

5. Lady Gaga - Just Dance

You have probably heard this song even more than American Boy. They mix together so well, how could I not include it. I skipped over the second verse to focus on the bridge which has a surprisingly interesting break down.

6. Thunderheist - Bubblegum

This high energy Toronto duo which produces in your face party music.

7. LMFAO - I am not a W***e

Achieves a kind of hook required to make generic house sounds stand out. A pair of internationally renowned mash up DJs were played this in a set I saw them do.

8. Michel Legrand - Die-gue-ding-ding

The infectious theme song for BBC cooking show In Search of Perfection.

9. The Ting Tings - Great DJ

We heard this UK group everywhere in Europe and deservingly so. There entire album We Started Nothing is well worth the listen. This particular song is about me.

10. Pink - So What

Pink has always seemed to be the most consist of the late 90s pop princesses.

11. Rat Silo - Getupgotoworkgohomeandgotobed

The final CBC Radio 3 find of the set. This was my bluesy theme song for my job search in August.

Jess and I headed south, away from the efficiency and orderliness characteristic of Switzerland, into the very relaxed siesta-based culture of Italy. On route to Cinque Terre, we traveled through Milan where we ate what had to be the best Pizza and Sushi place in town. Our destination, Cinque Terre, is park in Northern Italy that is a collection of five small villages gripping desperately to the Mediterranean coastline.

From Cinque Terre

Our first night we stayed just beyond the park in near La Spezia. A bus too us from La Spezia up a winding road to a village at the top of the mountain. The vehicle lurched precariously around each bend honking its horn the entirely way, trying to signal to anyone we might run into on the narrow hillside road. It was the first of several coastal experiences where we would have to travel up and down as often as left or right. We stayed in a hostel that was a converted school house. Their bunks had ladders with curiously thin rungs which were a massive pain to climb. Why we stayed on the top of the two bunk beds we had to ourselves we will never know.

The next day we took another bus down to Riomaggiore where we caught the train (after waiting and extra half an hour at least) to Corniglia, the middle of the five villages and the one we were staying in. Corniglia is one of the five villages which isn’t down by the coast, it is up a hill. The train station for Corniglia is down by the coast. This led to one of the most difficult moments of the trip where for some reason I did not realized we could take the bus up to the town. I must have assumed it went to another town or something. We had a horrible trek up the hill to get to the center of the tiny town to try to find our accommodations. Fortunately our accommodation were really really nice. I used an apartment booking service recommended by wikitravel and it turned out to be perfect. Nothing large, just a bed and a bathroom, but that was all that we needed.

Once settled we decided to take a walk to Vernazza to the north east of Corniglia. We knew the hike from Vernazza to Monterrosso was the worst, but we didn’t know that the hikes generally get harder as you head east. So we ended up doing the second worst hike in the rain. It was an interesting and on the whole when it was over a fine experience. We had gelato by the water in Vernazza to celebrate.

From Cinque Terre

From there we had several other adventures. We waited for trains several times, spent some time on rocky beaches, waited to buy groceries, went on the lover’s walk, and had the most delicious lasagna ever in a small restaurant in Manarola. If you happen to love sea food, this is the place to enjoy it fresh from the sea that morning.

We loved our time in Cinque Terre and did not want to leave, Jess especially. Our Italian adventure was just beginning as we planned visit Rome next and then return to the Mediterranean at Sorrento on the Amalfi coast.

Cinque Terre

After Paris we traveled to Interlaken Switzerland which is an extra sports hub in the middle of the Alps. It was our first real train journey. We had to get ticket with our rail passes in one of the large Paris train stations. As we waited in line I worried about our ability to communicate with bad French and broken English. How to be polite when we are trying to get tickets in yet another language. In the end the people behind the desk are really helpful and used to dealing with travelers like us. I just hope that maybe we were among some of the less difficult to deal with.

The trip to Interlaken also feature our only missed train of the trip. We didn’t make the connection in Bern. Looking around for help drove home the feeling that we were in a very foreign place. A bit of a freak out later we found the right desk and found out how to catch the next hour train to Interlaken.

The town was gorgeous. There is an other worldly quality to the Alps. Our second day it was cloudy. It was strange having the giant mountains around us obscured. You knew they were there but you just couldn’t see them. The air was fresh and the water was a mountain green. I would have to say the Alps are a must.

We went extreme in Interlaken and did some continuous flow white water rafting. We barreled down a mountain stream with 6 Swiss nurses for a solid hour and half. The river being continuous flow was nice because we didn’t have to paddle to go forward, we just had to keep on top shooting the rapids.

It was a glorious morning. When we got into our hostel afterward we slept all afternoon. It was exhausting but worth it. Our guides were really nice and even feeds us a bit afterward which I think is a must.

Our second day didn’t quiet work out as well since the clouds descended and our attempt to visit a waterfall failed. It just mean we have to go back on day.

Pictures from the rafting to come.

Interlaken

I took the Eurostar high-speed train through the Chunnel to Paris to meet up with my girlfriend, Jess, whom I traveled with for the rest of the trip. Taking the Chunnel was remarkably unremarkable. It was just like going through a extraordinarily long tunnel, yet it is staggering when you think about it and the work that was required to build it.

Paris was one of the first in a long line of European cities which has fixed itself self in the past creating a dense urban environment that doesn’t seem as soul crushing as other cities to live in. Tall office towers exist just to the west the old city in La Defense.

The food was delicious. Even just the baguettes on the corner were on the whole tasty. We were still in sync with Jess’ parents and got to enjoy several excellent meals with them. I am very thankful to them for letting us experience some really good french food.

This is important. If you are under 26 and in Paris on a Friday night, go to the Louvre. No only will you get in free, the audio guide–which looked fabulous–is also free. Even better there was nearly no one there, even at the Mona Lisa. Also consider entering by the metro and not by the pyramid.

That brings me to discussions of size. I have heard two things about Paris. First, the Eiffel Tower isn’t that impressive and second, the Mona Lisa is small. I think this is an example of expectations shaping perception. After hearing that the Eiffel Tower is not so impressive I was actually pretty impressed, especially when you consider when it was built, it is a very tall and complex structure. As for the Mona Lisa, it appears to me to be about portrait sized, which seems pretty reasonable considering it is a portrait. If Da Vinci had known the stature the work would have in modern times he might have considered making it bigger, but at the time how could he know?

Jess and I also visited the Patheon and I swung by the Arc de Triomphe. You can see pictures in our album.

From Paris

The most exciting activity of my stay in London was seeing a West End show with Jess and her parents. They got half price tickets to Spamalot. The half price ticket desk is really pretty fabulous, specially when you consider it takes about 2 dollars to make a pound. There is only one official one by the way, so try to avoid the many knock offs all around London. The production itself was amazing, tight and spectacular. You could tell that everyone loved working in the theater. Even the concessions guy was fabulous.

The next day I decided to wonder around on the cheap. It all started with changing of the guard at Buckingham palace which is so odd and very touristy. I strolled down to Westminster through St James Park and checked out the very cool and hands on Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. It might cost a bit of money but it is worth is.

I took the tube across town to the Tower of London and the Tower (not London) Bridge. The Tower is very expensive to get into but I happened on to a free tour and listened to a few stories outside of its walls. In the evening I was back with Jess. We gave our legs a rest and took a tour bus around the town in the cool evening air.

London

The next day was an intense day trip to Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge and Bath. Tours like this are pricey but usually you get to see a lot and have a good guide. It is their job after all. I don’t think it would be been possible to visit these sites with out renting a car. I really enjoyed the whole day. It can be overwhelming though. Plan to relax the day after a full day tour.

Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath

I flew into London and had arranged to stay in Oxford with a friend I met at UW named Chris. The first task was getting to Oxford. At the same time I was messaging another friend, Chuck, who was looking to travel around after working in Ireland for several months.

Chuck and I had very little to go on. I made my way to a one of the many London train station to catch a train to Oxford. Outside the station I quickly found an Internet cafe to check my messages. Chuck had left a message to meet a Trafalgar Square between 3pm and 4pm. I had an about an hour to make there! I grabbed a free and very useful guide to London from a tourist place that just happened to be on my random and somewhat inefficient route to meet Chuck. I made it and we went back to the train station to make one of the many trains from London to Oxford.

I would recommend to everyone to get out of London if you are visiting. There is nothing quite like the country side. I was very impressed with how close farm animals are to people in the UK. Horses are just across the fence and cows are at the river bank. Ducks are also every where and quite a bit bigger than I am used to.

While at Oxford I enjoyed the Oxford Museum. It is free and well worth the trip. Staying with a student of Oxford also gives one an excellent look into the city and the culture. There were even rowing bump races going on I got to watch. We got a chance to go punting as well, which was describe to me by friend as pushing a boat down the river with a stick.

Oxford 1

Oxford 2 and 3

Kuwait is the most different place I visited on my travels. Asia is definitely different than North America and Europe, but while retaining their culture they embrace so called North American values. At least everyone is generally working hard to make a living. Kuwait is very different in this respect.

From what I understand, and my understanding is rather limited, Kuwait nationalized its oil in the 1970s entitling every Kuwait family to a significant automatic income. When I say significant I mean driver and butler significant.

One of the strangest observation about Kuwait is I rarely saw anyone who was actually Kuwaiti. I would have only seen them in cars, in the airport, or in the mall. Part of this has to do with their wealth, part of it has to do with out incredibly hot it is in Kuwait. As you get closer to the equator the heat causes life styles to change. People start sleeping in the hot afternoon and eating, working, and shopping at night. Before air conditioning it was literally the only way to live.

The economic situation can created a 2 class society. The Kuwaiti and the foreign workers. The relationship isn’t always good. From the friends I was staying I got the impression when it comes to justice, a Kuwaiti word is always taken over the word of a foreign worker. A greater concern are people coming under the wrong impression and trust being abused. Immigrant workers being exploited is a growing problem as I understand it. Be it Mexicans in the US, Mongols in the Czech Republic or workers in to Kuwait. The life styles are so divided that if you see someone walking down the street they probably aren’t Kuwaiti.

I don’t know if I would recommend a tourist visiting Kuwait without knowing someone on the inside. But the experience is truly interesting.

Kuwait

If you have been following along you know that I have been traveling for the last 4 months, and now I am back in Waterloo, Ontario, and I am looking for a career opportunities for software developers.

I have experience developing software in C++, Python, C# and Java which I have gained over the last 8 years both in University and at Harris Communications. If anyone has a contact in a company who is looking for software talent I would appreciate it if you comment here or email me. As my resume becomes finalized I will be making it available here for reference.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

I spent 4 days in Beijing. The first evening I was guided by my coworker Jerry and his coworker Albert. They really helped me get sorted out in the massive city that is Beijing. Unlike the other cities that I had visited before, Beijing is on a plain so it sprawls with huge streets and city blocks. We met up again the day before I left and I got to meet their boss Harriet who was very kind to me and took us out for some Thai food. Before anything else I want to say the people of Beijing are fabulous and are good hosts. I appreciate their help getting around and trying food I may not have otherwise tried.

Beijing 1

The first day we wondered around Tienanmen Square by the entrance to the Imperial Palace and the National Theater. They treated me to Chinese hot pot, which was delicious. Nothing like boiling your own food making a broth as you go.

The second day in Beijing was a big adventure. It was a gray rainy day and I got up early to try to catch a bus to the Simatai Great Wall site. I arrived at the bus to find hand full of people waiting. It was 7:30am and the bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30 if enough people arrive. In situations like this meeting people really helps to pass the time. The first person I talked to was Marie, a Czech PhD student who is studying Mongol immigration in to the Czech Republic. As the wait went on we meet two girls from Ireland who live in London. We waited together wondering if we were going to make it to the Great Wall today.

After a group left our bus, presumably for another bus, we finally got to pay because the tour was on. The bus left, turn the corner and than the bus driver stopped the bus to ask if we wanted to pay extra to take the highway. The reaction ranged from suspect to enthusiastic. It seemed odd not to include the toll in the price. The driver also didn’t really speak any English. Fortunately there was a man from Hong Kong who was studying Chinese string instruments who helped to translate.

We decided to only take the highway on only one leg of the journey: the way back. We left Beijing for the great wall. It was probably about an hour and half until the traffic started. It took a good 3 hours to get close to the wall as we waited for two accident to clear up. I got to experience the Chinese country side while I looked for somewhere to relief myself. People on the bus were unified by the common annoying situation of waiting and waiting to finally get to the great wall.

We exited the backed up road and headed directly toward Simatai. Suddenly we slowed down again. Their was a fresh 3rd accident right in front of us. Traffic was stopped going to and coming from the great wall. Now even our bus driver had to laugh. Out on the wet street we meet up with an Ozzie rugby team who was trying to go the other way. It was suggested we should just switch buses. That idea didn’t quite fly. Next we watched cars try to squeeze by the accident. The rugby team said they could move the cars involved in the accident out of the way. The locals weren’t too keen on that idea, and we had to wait for the police anyway. Almost and hour later the police had resolved the situation enough to move the vehicles. The rugby team’s services, though, weren’t employed. The Chinese prefer to proudly solve problems themselves and everyone got involved.

After all of that we arrived at a nearly abandoned Simatai Great Wall site and got to spend 3 hours in the area. I got as many pictures as I could. The rain made it difficult, but I hope you can enjoy them. There is nothing like being there of course. It is truly quite great!

Beijing 2 (Great Wall)

With friends made and a wonder of the world explored it was time for bed. Making contacts while you travel is fun, especially if you get to run in them again like I did with Marie.

The next day in Beijing I relaxed and only ventured out to visit the Olympic site. It was under construction and a lot of landscaping, so I could only get so close. It was very exciting to see some of the venues in person. China does impressive very well. As I get to watch the Olympics now it is special to have seen the venues with my own eyes, and they are certainly impressive!

Beijing 3

My last day in China started with an early morning trip to the Imperial Palace, or Forbidden City as it is also know. The palace doesn’t open until 8:30am so I walked to the north gate where there is large park with a hill in the center made with the dirt dug out to make the moat around the palace. It was peaceful in the morning with hundreds of Chinese people out doing tai chi, Chinese medicine, and swing dancing.

I went into the north gate of the Forbidden City right at 8:30am. I would recommend this route to anyone. Almost no one is there for the first half of your visit. Sure you see things in the reverse order, but there is something special about wondering the Imperial Garden alone, especially when I saw the huge crowds of tour groups grow in number as I reached the front gate where I exited.

After the palace I step on to Tienanmen Square. Then I took a quick subway ride to the new gravity defying CCTV building before traveling across town to the tech heart of Beijing where all kind of companies are employing the best and the brightest Chinese talent to write code for them. Jerry took me shopping for an SD card before giving me directions to the beautiful summer palace. It is a lake side retreat away from the heat of the big city, at least for the Emperor. Now though it is open to everyone.

Jerry treated me one last great meal, Korean BBQ, before seeing me personally to the bus which took me to the newly renovated Beijing Airport. It is impressive, at least in the sense of being like the Hong Kong airport but larger in every way. I got to wait until 3am when my flight to Kuwait via Dubai would start checking in. For those who haven’t had the chance, sleeping in an airport is no fun, not even a nice one. But when you travel you do what you have to do.

Beijing 4

In a year everyone is talking about China, it was interesting to pay the country a visit. As for my vantage, great projects like the Olympic venues are undertaken with an intense work ethic. Great things are accomplished, but what about every day life? Does it see much improvement? Chinese men and woman work hard, like Boxer in Animal Farm, ignoring problems like broken, outdated, or unsafe equipment, and muscle through to get the job done. China has one great resource, people. In Japan everything is done with exact precision but in China, people are thrown at the problem until they make it work. One of the themes of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games in my eyes was getting a bunch of people to work together, and that is something China excels at.